Introducing Yourselves to Other Pipe Smokers

[layinpipe]

I am the type of person that will not hold my tongue in the least bit publicly and voice my opinion if the other person decides to not hold theirs first. I hate when people take it upon themselves to tell you what they think about how you live your life. I won't tolerate it without putting in my own 2 cents right back.
I have 3 dogs, 2 of which are Pit Bulls, and have gotten into words with idiots who decide to tell me their narrow minded opinion of the breed and how violent of dogs they are. Depending on their choice of words i either a) drop some knowledge and engage in a polite and informative conversation and possibly changed their opinions on the breed, or b) i tell them they are absolutely right and that my dog(s) are 1 strike away from doggy heaven and have attacked whatever the person running their mouth's gender/clothing/hairstyle/etc. happens to be in the past and to take a long walk off a short pier.

 

[warren]

kibo: My response would have been, "As do you madam."

 

[flyingbriar291]

The first time I began talking pipes with another pipe smoker (who had been smoking for many years), he asked what tobaccos I smoked. I named a few big name brands that are in my usual rotation including several of my favorite McClelland blends as well as some J.M. Boswell blends. He had never heard of any of them, and said he only smoked Sir Walter Raleigh. Needless to say, the pipe discussion did not last very long afterwards. Besides that specific instance, most of the pipe smokers I saw or knew while at college were nowhere's near as passionate or interested in the hobby as I was so it was always tough to talk pipes.

 

[aquilas]

I think its funny that when I smoke a cigar, I get dirty looks, rude comments...

Kibo - I get something similar to that. At the b&m I lounge at, when I used to smoke cigars, no one would really talk to me, other than the owner himself. Everyone else, all the regulars, are mainly cigar smokers. Of course, I was with my cousin and my brother so I had people to spend time with, but outside of them, none of the other regulars at the lounge would talk to me. When I started smoking my pipe there, all of a sudden, everyone's sitting next to me, introducing themselves to me, and talking to me.
I guess when I smoked cigars, I had to make the first move. But with smoking my pipe, the first move was on them.

 

[sfsteves]

kibo said:

I think its funny that when I smoke a

cigar, I get dirty looks, rude comments ...

Last summer, as I sat watching my son's baseball game (adult hardball, not softball), one of the guys on his team was 'on-deck' when he smelled my cigar ... looks through the chainlink fence and asked me to put it out ... said I was 'poisoning the world' ... I just laughed as though I thought he were kidding ...
Contrast that with the encounter I had with an old woman in SF several years ago ... I was standing on the sidewalk outside the building where I worked at the time and had noticed her coming in my direction ... she was all hunched over (from what is sometimes called 'dowager's hump') and had to lift her head almost sideways to be sure she was navigating directly to me ... of course, I knew what was coming and knew I could never be rude to a woman of her age ... as she got within a few feet of me, she looks up and says "I could smell your cigar clear down the block" and I braced for the worst ... "it reminded me of my dear father who used to smoke cigars and I just love it" ... all I could do was smile at her and say thank you ...
For whatever reason, I don't seem to get many comments of any sort when smoking a pipe in public ... it just doesn't seem to engender the same sort of reaction that cigars do ... though I must say, I can't explain that.